A new California law requiring firearms to be securely stored whenever they are not under a gun owner’s immediate control took effect Jan. 1, a change public health experts say could reduce suicides, accidental shootings, gun thefts and school violence by limiting easy access to lethal weapons.
Senate Bill 53 states that firearms must be secured whenever not under the owner’s immediate control. The law applies even if no children live in the home, marking a key shift from earlier legislation that focused on child access.
The previous law’s complexity often left gun owners uncertain about when secure storage was legally required, according to Susie MacLean, a retired primary care physician and Los Altos resident who has worked on firearm injury prevention from a public health perspective. She’s currently a board member of
the Stanford nonprofit Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic, which aims to integrate firearm injury prevention education at medical schools nationally.
“The prior law was really focused only on child access prevention, and it was written in a convoluted way,” MacLean told the Town Crier. “What’s changed is that … anytime you’re not having a gun on your person or under your immediate control, you must keep it locked securely.”
Secure storage requirements are intended to address risks that extend beyond deliberate misuse of firearms, including accidental injuries, suicide and unauthorized access by children or others in the household, public health experts say. Research has shown that firearms kept unsecured inside the home are often more accessible than many owners realize, particularly to children, according to studies cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Parents think their guns are safely hidden, but if you survey the kids, they know where the guns are, and they can access them in less than five minutes in many cases,” MacLean said. “Kids are curious. They know where the firearms are, and accidents happen and they’re always tragic.”
Secure firearm storage can also reduce suicide risk, according to researchers, since many firearm deaths occur impulsively during short-term mental health crises.
“Anything that puts time and distance between someone in crisis and lethal means will reduce suicide risk, so having the firearm locked accomplishes that,” MacLean said.
Studies about school shootings show that the majority of firearms used come from the shooter’s home or the home of a relative.
While public health experts emphasize prevention and behavior change, local law
enforcement officials say the practical impact of the new law – particularly in terms of enforcement – remains limited for now.
Los Altos Police Chief Saskia Lagergren said the department has not yet received formal guidance on SB 53 and expects more detailed legal updates later this year, as is typical with new state laws.
Lagergren said that the first few violations would be treated as infractions, carrying fines in the range of several hundred dollars. In terms of enforcement, she added, “We would only be able to give people citations for this offense if we were lawfully inside their home and happened to see an unsecured firearm.”
With enforcement expected to be limited, the law’s effectiveness is expected to depend largely on voluntary compliance and everyday storage practices inside the home.
“It’s like wearing a seatbelt,” MacLean said. “It’s having a practice change, a cultural practice change in the community where people may store, let’s say they have six guns, and they store five of them safely, but they keep one handgun in their bedside stand. That’s not okay. They need to have them all stored securely.”
